October 2011
3 posts
4 tags
Codify
I love the iPad. It’s casual, immediate, and more intimate than a laptop ever will be. There are wonderful apps available for most activities you could want to do on an iPad: reading, writing, drawing, listening, watching, playing; the list goes on. Much of the time when I want to perform some task (or just relax), I will now reach for my iPad instead of my laptop if possible. However, until...
2 tags
Daring Do! - Tutorials and Collisions
I’ve been busy again today spending time with family (it’s my birthday tomorrow!), but I found a bit of time this evening to do some work on Daring Do!.
I’m still struggling with implementing basic tilemap collision detection in Cocos2D, so I’ve spent most of the evening working my way through some tutorials and fiddling around with code. I’m still not really sure...
2 tags
The Plan
Throughout October, I’m planning to try and make significant progress on porting my Ludum Dare entry to the iPhone and iPad, and blog about my experiences1. I’d like to aim to release the game on the App Store by the end of the year; Christmas at the very latest, preferably earlier.
If you haven’t seen my entry yet, please take a look: Daring Do!. There’s also a...
August 2011
1 post
1 tag
“Start simply. Pick something, anything, and dwell on it for an hour. A half...”
– Randy Murray: You Are Not A Hummingbird
Don’t be a hummingbird.
June 2011
2 posts
5 tags
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is an experience. It’s an audiovisual treat and, in my opinion, a wonderful example of games as art. I don’t think it would be too bold to describe S:S&S EP as iOS’s Shadow of the Colossus 1.
S&S EP references elements of geek culture and video games of the past to create a unique experience that still manages to feel...
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“I think the entire tale is summed up with the iWork suite of apps, where Apple...”
– ∞ Apple’s Magnum Opus
If they get it right, iCloud is going to be pretty fantastic for everybody who uses it. But perhaps especially for non-geeky types.
May 2011
3 posts
4 tags
The Nintendo 3DS
At the end of March, I picked up a Nintendo 3DS. I wasn’t initially sure whether to get one up at launch, but in the end I went for it. This post is an attempt to come to some conclusion regarding how I feel about the device, and why I bought one.
Hardware
The 3DS keeps the same form-factor as the original DS which shipped back in 2005, although it’s closer in shape and size to the...
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Bleep Beep Beep Bloop: A List of Great Videogame...
I love videogame music. Rarely a day goes by where I don’t have some game tune stuck in my head (Mario and Mariokart being the worst offenders). I find a lot of game music is great to work / code to, as it’s generally upbeat and devoid of lyrics. I thought it’d be fun to put together a short list of my favourite albums and share it here. I’ve put in download / purchase links...
Undercity →
Brilliant video documenting (the somewhat illegal) exploration of some of New York’s hidden undercity: disused rail stations, old sewers and tunnels, and the tops of bridges. I couldn’t stop watching.
/via Apple Outsider
April 2011
2 posts
TabCloud →
TabCloud is my new favourite Chrome extension. Install it, click a button, and you can save your current browser tabs as a group with an optional title. The group gets synced to the TabCloud web app, allowing you to access it from other computers where you have TabCloud installed or from an iPhone or iPad via a nice simple web interface. It’s a great way to save a set of tabs for later or to...
4 tags
Byword →
I’m trying to get back into blogging (and writing in general) at the moment, and I love PlainText on the iPad and iPhone for writing. It’s super-simple and lets you edit plain text files that’re stored in your Dropbox with a really clean, gorgeous interface.
Earlier today, I was thinking how nice it’d be to have a similar app on the Mac. Normally I edit plain text files...
March 2011
2 posts
4 tags
“Apple versus Amazon is like Ali versus Frasier. This is two evenly-matched...”
– Amazon Cloud Drive by Andy Ihnatko
Amazon certainly have the potential to offer a decent alternative to iOS - they have the all-important music, video and app ecosystem that’s other companies don’t.
Spam Club
James: Well that's bloody useful
James: Just looking through some notes i have on my iPad
James: And most of it's fine - some links, some reminders about things
James: And then there are two random IP addresses with no indication
what they are
James: And one random 9 digit number
James: The IP addresses are located in the Ukraine
James: Hmm, and they're on the spamhaus spam block list
Nick: That is weird
James: Maybe I have a split personality, like Tyler Durden
James: Except, instead of fighting people and blowing things up, I run
a spam farm from the Ukraine
Nick: LMAO
February 2011
1 post
2 tags
“Because wanting to write is not the same as writing.
And thinking about...”
– Writing vs. Writing — Shawn Blanc
Because however much you talk about doing something, you’re not doing it unless you’re actually doing it.
January 2011
1 post
4 tags
Frosty's 2010 Awards: Books, Games and Movies
I thought I’d write a quick roundup of the movies I’ve seen, games I’ve played, and books I’ve read this year. Note that not everything on this list may have been released this year, but I experienced them for the first time this year. Feel free to just skim the headlines if you can’tbe arsed to read the whole thing. Without further ado…
Movies
The...
November 2010
1 post
October 2010
2 posts
2 tags
NaNoWriMo 2010
I’ve been thinking for a while about whether I’m going to take part in this year’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).
I really want to do it again. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed doing it last year. I had practically zero spare time, it was very very hard work some days, but dammit - I wrote a book! It was probably the most concentrated creative period of my...
2 tags
Minecraft
I’ve recently become somewhat addicted to Minecraft - the hit indie game that’s currently earning its creator over £100,000 a day. I find it quite hard to summarise what I find so brilliant about Minecraft, so I’ve collected together a few links to articles or videos that give a good idea of why Minecraft is awesome, and why you should be playing it right now.
As a brief...
September 2010
6 posts
2 tags
SEO 101
Proof that you need to think about what your page titles are going to look like if they get truncated!
It’s innocent, I promise!
1 tag
“I have this problem.
When I get home from work, I sit down on my couch and...”
– Square Signals : An Anesthetic Default
Oh, snap.
2 tags
Random question, just because I’m a big geek and I’m interested: How do you keep track of projects and tasks that you have to do? Software? (if so, what?) Paper? (if so, how?) Or do you just keep it in your head? Or do you have nothing to do?
(I can’t get Tumblr answers to work (I think it’s a deficiency in my theme) so if you could answer in the comments, that’d be...
1 tag
Instapaper articles for 06-09-2010
There is a Horse in the Apple Store
Just hilarious. We should all start using the phrase ‘tiny pony’ more often.
Terry Pratchett: ‘I’m open to joy. But I’m also more cynical’ | Books | The Guardian
I dare you to read the final paragraphs of this with without welling up.
Less Talk More Rock- Boing Boing
Brilliant, brilliant essay about the ‘native...
2 tags
Helsing's Fire: Quick iPhone Game Review
Helsing’s Fire is a fun, brilliantly presented, innovative puzzle / arcade game for iOS.
You play as Van Helsing, on a mission to destroy the foul Count Dracula. To do this, you progress through 90 levels across 3 worlds, all filled with a hordes of monsters. The monsters in each level stand stationary, and are coloured red, blue, or green. To defeat them, you must move your flaming...
“The answer to this is very simple. Terrifyingly simple. No one will lose...”
– waffle → Tradeoffs
A great solution to the problem of “film / TV rentals are all well and good, but what happens when your children want to watch Toy Story 2 645 times?”. When you’ve rented something enough times to cover the cost of owning an item, why can’t you then...
August 2010
2 posts
2 tags
Instapaper starred articles for week of 16-08-2010
I thought I’d try something new and start automatically posting my starred Instapaper articles every week. These are things I’ve enjoyed reading over the past week, and I hope you like them too. Let me know what you think.
“MOM! BETHANY WON’T LET ME PLAY DOODLE JUMP! - venomous porridge”
Great fun piece of short creative writing based entirely off an iPhone app review for Doodle...
1 tag
“MOM! BETHANY WON’T LET ME PLAY DOODLE JUMP!” ... →
Hilarious short story based on an App Store review - read it now!
July 2010
1 post
2 tags
“This isn’t about nitpicking; it’s just to underline that Android phones are best...”
– David Pogue - Droid X Review
June 2010
7 posts
2 tags
iPhone Games
I play quite a lot of games on my iPhone. I thought I’d write a quick post to highlight some of the games that I’ve really enjoyed and I keep coming back to. There’s a lot of good stuff out there, but there’s also a lot of rubbish to wade through (either games that are just plain bad, or fun for five minutes and then you’ll never play it again); so here are the ones...
2 tags
“Shareability is the degree to which you want someone else to have the same...”
– Shareable Experiences » Matt Legend Gemmell
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WatchiPhone 4 Grip of Death
Just thought I’d make a quick video demonstrating the ‘grip of death’ issue I’m seeing with the iPhone 4. It’s an absolutely awesome device, which makes this one imperfection all the more annoying.
2 tags
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Van Gogh: “But you’re not armed!”
The Doctor: “I am!”
Van Gogh: “What with?”
The Doctor: “Overconfidence, this, and a small screwdriver - i’m absolutely sorted.”
From last night’s brilliant episode of doctor who.
1 tag
May 2010
4 posts
1 tag
iPad Initial Impressions
So, last night I got to play with an iPad for a couple of hours (thanks @davea!) and thought I’d post some of my initial impressions. Obviously these are my thoughts, your mileage may vary.
It’s smaller than you probably think it is
It’s exactly as big as you thought it was if you were sad enough to make an actual-size cardboard model of it months ago
The screen is gorgeous....
2 tags
Garden update
Well, the plants made it through the night.
This morning, the only sign of forced entry was at the front-right of the barricade - the posts had been knocked down and the plant (‘nepeta’) squashed somewhat. I thought it odd that they’d attack just that one plant, so I had a quick google - turns out that nepeta is part of the catnip / catmint group. Bugger.
I think it’ll...
1 tag
Garden laser grid
I’ve just set up a hi-tech laser defence grid in our garden. Why?
Well, when we first moved in to our current house, the garden was a total jungle. Here are two pictures of one of the flowerbeds, last August:
Messy, huh? The whole garden was thoroughly overgrown, full of plants that were far too big for it.
Seeing as how the weather’s been so nice recently, we finally got...
2 tags
Tom summarizes a classic
Tom: right I am going to finish my book!
Me: what book?
Tom: twenty thosand leagues under the sea
Me: oh, cool :D
Me: any good?
Tom: yeah, although he does go on a bit in places
Me: I read most of journey to the centre of the earth a while back
Me: never finished it though
Tom: kind of like a kind trying to get his word count up
Tom: considering hes such a greatwriter and these are classics etc not really my place to say that
Tom: but there are pages where he just lists fish
Me: ROFL
Tom: I saw this and this and this and this and this and this and this
April 2010
2 posts
1 tag
“By the end of the day, I was convinced. Human-computer interaction has found a...”
– Alex Payne — The Moderate’s Position on iPad Openness
March 2010
10 posts
2 tags
the joy of walking :mnmlist →
1 tag
3 tags
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“Apple has been headed this way for years, slowly chipping away at the user’s...”
– PodCamp Nashville 2010 Presentation
A presentation entitled “Is the iPad just a big iPhone?”, discussing a few of the UI issues surrounding designing for the iPad.
1 tag
Apple iPad TV ad →
Apple aired their first iPad advert last night during the Oscars.
The thing that jumps out at me about it? Pretty much every shot shows somebody with their feet up on a table, or sat on a floor with their knees up. Some pretty unnatural looking poses in there, too. It’ll be interesting to see what the ergonomics of the iPad are like for anything other than casual sofa web surfing (in...
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WatchDICE 2010: “Design Outside the Box” Presentation [via waxy.org/links]
An entertaining talk on casual gaming, the crossover of games into reality, and achievements. Well worth a watch if you’re at all into games, game theory, or psychology.